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Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 168, NO. 48 | Monday November 2, 2009
InDEX
3 · Sudoku
4 · Opinion
5 · Lifestyle
8 · Classifieds
10 · Crossword
12 · Sports
Weird America: Devendra
Banhart debuted new album
in Chinatown. PAGE 5
Blackout: Oregon handed the
Trojans their worst loss in 12 years
on Halloween night. PAGE 12
President Sample to retire in August
By alexandra tilsley
Daily Trojan
President Steven B. Sample,
who has guided USC’s ascension
through the academic, philan-thropic
and economic ranks for 19
years, announced Monday he will
be stepping down in August.
“It has been a calling, an
all-consuming passion to move
this university ahead farther and
faster than any other university in
the United States,” Sample said in
a statement released by USC. “We
have been blessed to have pursued
this mission in the company of
many colleagues and friends who
share our commitment to USC’s
advancement. Our years here have
simply been exhilarating.”
And in fact, Sample arguably
has moved the university ahead
farther and faster than any other
president in the school’s history.
During his storied tenure, USC’s
acceptance rate has plummeted
as SAT scores and qualifications
have soared. He has boosted the
school’s global outreach — par-ticularly
around the Pacific Rim,
helped create plans for a dramat-ic
expansion, oversaw the most
successful fundraising campaign
in higher education history and
helped attract more highly quali-fied
faculty members than ever be-fore.
USC’s endowment — though it
has slipped a bit in the last year
— grew to nearly $4 billion under
Sample. Seven professional schools
were named for donors in the past
10 years. And five donations of
more than $100 million — the most
of that size to any school — have
been given. As Vice President for
Student Affairs Michael L. Jackson
said, Sample will be missed.
“President Sample will be re-membered
as one of America’s
greatest and visionary universi-ty
leaders,” Jackson wrote in an
email. “Under his guidance and
pursuit of excellence, USC has be-come
an international powerhouse
that students from all around the
globe want to attend ... We will
miss him.”
Under Sample’s leadership, USC
Officials say USC’s Board of Trustees will conduct an international
search for Sample’s successor and will make a decision by May.
Retirement marks end of era, poses
significant challenges for successor
For additional
commentary on
President Steven
B. Sample’s
retirement, see the
Opinion section
on page 4.
by the numbers
25: spots USC has climbed from 51 to 26 in US News & World
Report’s ranking of research universities in the United States.
$3 billion: USC’s endowment, which has grown from
$450 million since President Sample arrived.
24 percent: USC’s acceptance rate, which has
decreased from 70 percent.
7,000: international students attending USC last year.
2: national football championships.
Since President Steven B.
Sample’s arrival in 1991, USC
has undergone many changes.
Here are some highlights from
over the years.
Photo courtesy of USC
Words of wisdom · President Steven B. Sample has taught a highly
selective leadership course with management expert Warren Bemis.
By rohan venkataramakrishnan
Daily Trojan
Many with their ear to the USC administration have
been speculating for a few years now that President Steven
B. Sample would be stepping down, but Monday’s an-nouncement
that he will be retiring in August was a bomb-shell
nonetheless.
Sample’s retirement will mark the end of an era in which
USC has evolved into a leading research university, and rais-es
serious questions about the university’s future — chief
among them whether Sample’s successor can maintain the
level of success he established in his time as president.
Over the last two decades, Sample has had a
wide-ranging effect on the university. He has catapulted its
academic standards, expanded its outreach into the com-munity
and made it a destination for students in dozens of
states and dozens of countries.
And Sample’s prolific fundraising efforts have enabled
the significant capital improvements that give USC’s cam-pus
a vastly different face from that of 20 years ago.
The impact of many of Sample’s accomplishments may
not be clear for years. But after nearly two decades, his in-fluence
is felt in nearly every aspect of university life, and his
retirement will leave a gaping hole in the president’s office.
Sample’s announcement was hardly shocking. His
Parkinson’s disease has grown worse in recent years; at
one event in Washington, DC last spring, the president’s
hand shook violently at times, although his voice remained
sturdy during a speech to alumni. The university also an-nounced
that Sample would not be teaching his popular
Next president will face key issues as the
university enters crucial phase of development.
| see successor, page 2 |
Sample
Amy Schilit | Daily Trojan
| see sample, page 2 |
Photo courtesy of USC
News analysis

Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 168, NO. 48 | Monday November 2, 2009
InDEX
3 · Sudoku
4 · Opinion
5 · Lifestyle
8 · Classifieds
10 · Crossword
12 · Sports
Weird America: Devendra
Banhart debuted new album
in Chinatown. PAGE 5
Blackout: Oregon handed the
Trojans their worst loss in 12 years
on Halloween night. PAGE 12
President Sample to retire in August
By alexandra tilsley
Daily Trojan
President Steven B. Sample,
who has guided USC’s ascension
through the academic, philan-thropic
and economic ranks for 19
years, announced Monday he will
be stepping down in August.
“It has been a calling, an
all-consuming passion to move
this university ahead farther and
faster than any other university in
the United States,” Sample said in
a statement released by USC. “We
have been blessed to have pursued
this mission in the company of
many colleagues and friends who
share our commitment to USC’s
advancement. Our years here have
simply been exhilarating.”
And in fact, Sample arguably
has moved the university ahead
farther and faster than any other
president in the school’s history.
During his storied tenure, USC’s
acceptance rate has plummeted
as SAT scores and qualifications
have soared. He has boosted the
school’s global outreach — par-ticularly
around the Pacific Rim,
helped create plans for a dramat-ic
expansion, oversaw the most
successful fundraising campaign
in higher education history and
helped attract more highly quali-fied
faculty members than ever be-fore.
USC’s endowment — though it
has slipped a bit in the last year
— grew to nearly $4 billion under
Sample. Seven professional schools
were named for donors in the past
10 years. And five donations of
more than $100 million — the most
of that size to any school — have
been given. As Vice President for
Student Affairs Michael L. Jackson
said, Sample will be missed.
“President Sample will be re-membered
as one of America’s
greatest and visionary universi-ty
leaders,” Jackson wrote in an
email. “Under his guidance and
pursuit of excellence, USC has be-come
an international powerhouse
that students from all around the
globe want to attend ... We will
miss him.”
Under Sample’s leadership, USC
Officials say USC’s Board of Trustees will conduct an international
search for Sample’s successor and will make a decision by May.
Retirement marks end of era, poses
significant challenges for successor
For additional
commentary on
President Steven
B. Sample’s
retirement, see the
Opinion section
on page 4.
by the numbers
25: spots USC has climbed from 51 to 26 in US News & World
Report’s ranking of research universities in the United States.
$3 billion: USC’s endowment, which has grown from
$450 million since President Sample arrived.
24 percent: USC’s acceptance rate, which has
decreased from 70 percent.
7,000: international students attending USC last year.
2: national football championships.
Since President Steven B.
Sample’s arrival in 1991, USC
has undergone many changes.
Here are some highlights from
over the years.
Photo courtesy of USC
Words of wisdom · President Steven B. Sample has taught a highly
selective leadership course with management expert Warren Bemis.
By rohan venkataramakrishnan
Daily Trojan
Many with their ear to the USC administration have
been speculating for a few years now that President Steven
B. Sample would be stepping down, but Monday’s an-nouncement
that he will be retiring in August was a bomb-shell
nonetheless.
Sample’s retirement will mark the end of an era in which
USC has evolved into a leading research university, and rais-es
serious questions about the university’s future — chief
among them whether Sample’s successor can maintain the
level of success he established in his time as president.
Over the last two decades, Sample has had a
wide-ranging effect on the university. He has catapulted its
academic standards, expanded its outreach into the com-munity
and made it a destination for students in dozens of
states and dozens of countries.
And Sample’s prolific fundraising efforts have enabled
the significant capital improvements that give USC’s cam-pus
a vastly different face from that of 20 years ago.
The impact of many of Sample’s accomplishments may
not be clear for years. But after nearly two decades, his in-fluence
is felt in nearly every aspect of university life, and his
retirement will leave a gaping hole in the president’s office.
Sample’s announcement was hardly shocking. His
Parkinson’s disease has grown worse in recent years; at
one event in Washington, DC last spring, the president’s
hand shook violently at times, although his voice remained
sturdy during a speech to alumni. The university also an-nounced
that Sample would not be teaching his popular
Next president will face key issues as the
university enters crucial phase of development.
| see successor, page 2 |
Sample
Amy Schilit | Daily Trojan
| see sample, page 2 |
Photo courtesy of USC
News analysis